Dubbed the Academy Color Predictor, the free app for iPad iOS 7 is being demoed this week at the NAB Show. It's designed to help professional filmmakers and hobbyists understand the interaction of key elements in a scene -- such as the lights, camera, filters and the photographed objects themselves -- by allowing them to change key source light, image sensor and filter parameters to visualize color rendering differences and compare looks.

The council started to preview the app last fall at IBC. The development was led by the council's Solid State Lighting Project Committee, which has been researching inconsistencies in how solid state lighting systems respond to different digital cinematography cameras.

“This app emerged from our conversations with cinematographers, production designers, costume designers and set decorators who were struggling to predict color reproduction when switching from traditional incandescent light sources to solid state lighting,” said Andy Maltz, managing director of the Academy’s Science and Technology Council. “After a successful beta test, we’re now offering this app free, for general consumption, so that all types of content creators, researchers and students can benefit from our research."